Mexico: The attack on avocado puts its competitiveness at risk

Salvador Abud Mirabent, a delegate from the Ministry of Economy (SE), considered that the state's negative campaign on the avocado sector was risky because the main competitors in other countries, seeking to enter the United States market, could promote a veto or a non-tariff barrier for a supposed deterioration of the environment.

After the controversy generated by the operations carried out by the Secretariat of Environment, Natural Resources and Climate Change to dismantle avocado orchards that, according to the authority, were established irregularly, Salvador Abud said people shouldn't speak badly of the avocado sector, as this crop's exports amount to 2 billion dollars a year.

Abud Mirabent said that 85 percent of avocado exports were destined for the United States, and that the frontal attack on the sector could allow competing producers in countries such as Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Costa Rica, to call for a veto of Michoacan producers with the argument that their production is deteriorating the forests.